Lok Sabha polls: Congress, TMC, ‘outsiders’ given space in UP, SP sees anger within ranks

The Samajwadi’s Party’s (SP’s) decision to field three “outsiders” in its latest list for the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls has caused discontent within the party ranks, with many hoping for tickets being left out.

On Friday, the SP in its third list sprung a surprise by fielding Advocate Bhanu Pratap Singh from the Meerut seat and retired Additional District Judge (Bijnor) Manoj Kumar from Nagina in the Bijnor district. The party also allotted the Bhadohi seat to the Trinamool Congress, its other ally as part of the Opposition’s INDIA bloc alongside the Congress.

The TMC is likely to pick former Congress MLA Lalitesh Pati Tripathi, who is the grandson of former Uttar Pradesh CM Kamalapati Tripathi, for the seat.

The SP’s MLA from Sardhana, Atul Pradhan, was seeking a ticket from Meerut. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the seat was won by the BJP’s Rajendra Agarwal. He defeated Haji Yaqoob Qureshi of the BSP, which fought the election with the SP, by a slim margin of 4,729 votes.

मेरठ लोकसभा की जनता ने संघर्ष करने के लिये दुआएँ की, मौका ना मिलने पर आप सभी से माफ़ी चाहता हूँ! सरधना की जनता ने जनसेवक के रूप में चुनकर संघर्ष करने का जो मौका दिया है, उनका आभार! ग़रीब-मज़दूर किसान के हक़ एव न्याय के लिये संघर्ष जारी रहेगा! <a href=«https://twitter.com/hashtag/%E0%A4%87%E0%A4%82%E0%A4%95%E0%A4%BC%E0%A4%B2%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%AC_%E0%A4%9C%E0%A4%BC%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%82%E0%A4%A6%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%AC%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%A6?src=hash&ref_src=» https: class="" rel=«nofollow, noopener» target="_blank">#इंक़लाब_ज़िंदाबाद

— Atul Pradhan (@atulpradhansp) <a href=«https://twitter.com/atulpradhansp/status/1768632698334224825?ref_src=» https: class="" rel=«nofollow, noopener» target="_blank">March 15, 2024

After the announcement of the list, Pradhan took to X to